Not a bundle of laughs but a brilliant and compelling drama. This is Clooney at his very best.
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09/28/07
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Michael Clayton (2007)
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Reviews Counted:189
Fresh:170
Rotten:19
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Michael Clayton is one of the most sharply scripted films of 2007, with an engrossing premise and faultless acting. Director Tony Gilroy succeeds not only in capturing the audience's attention, but holding it until the credits roll.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Law/Lawyers, Thriller, Mental Illness, Divorce, Theatrical Release
Theatrical Release:Oct 12, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $48,976,323
Synopsis: Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what is known in the legal world as a "fixer," or in the character's own pejorative version, a "janitor" who cleans up legal messes for VIPs and corporations on... [More]
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
Director: Tony Gilroy
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Reviews for Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton is the adult antidote to a torrent of monotonous gobbledygook devoid of poignant messaging.
10/05/07
Michael Clayton is an assured, intelligent thriller, the kind that never depends on clunky exposition and differentiates its heroes and villains only by the choices they make during the film.
10/05/07
Michael Clayton definitely has its heart in the '70s.
05/01/08
Clooney's glamorous intelligence is deepened by his constant hints that slickness, like corporate integrity, is just an act.
02/22/08
a thriller of the most sophisticated type, playing the macrocosm of Clayton's professional problems against the microcosm of the soul he thought he had conveniently compartmentalized
01/30/08
This uncommonly intelligent thriller evokes the great films of the 1970s (All the President's Men, Klute, Three Days of the Condor) that managed to elicit gritty urban realism while maintaining a suave sense of style and moral complexity.
10/04/07
Expertly paced, tautly written and superbly cast, it may turn out to be the most auspicious debut of the year.
09/29/07
The strength of the film is Tom Wilkinson's performance as a bipolar lawyer who stops taking his medication and has an epiphany of sorts.
10/20/07
The story is elaborate and demands the utmost of patience, and the final confrontation is one that won't soon be forgotten -- particularly if you're George Clooney at the height of awards season.
10/11/07
Michael Clayton is a lot of things - somber, menacing, heartfelt, and heroic. It tells an intriguing tale in a wonderfully evocative manner. Unfortunately, there is one thing that it's not - and that's great.
10/11/07
Smart and exciting, Michael Clayton takes the audience on a ride whose pleasures almost sneak up on you and are all the more satisfying because of it.
10/11/07
[A] smoldering corporate thriller.
10/18/08
A deliberate and measured look at what happens when you wake up one day and realize you can no longer recognize the man staring back at you from the bathroom mirror.
10/12/07
It’s The Insider remade and rechristened with all the coiled, white-hot intensity of a crime thriller like Heat.
10/10/07
[A] lack of fireworks makes Michael Clayton refreshing in a sense, eschewing traditional white hats and black hats for more realistic shades of gray.
08/31/07
Top CriticHate the rest of the film, but I can't imagine anyone stepping outside of the theater and thinking Clooney's monumental work lacks absolute fire.
10/11/07
A dense trip into the gray areas of the legal world that film fans will go back to again and again like the classics that inspired it. Don't miss it.
10/06/07
Think of this intense drama about corporate shenanigans as the capper to a George Clooney trilogy about duty, ethics and professionalism.
11/05/07
The filmmaker, best known as the scribe of the Bourne trilogy, wears both director and writer hats here, and the results are electrifying.
10/04/07
Top CriticLatest News for Michael Clayton
May 11, 2009:
RT Interview: Tilda Swinton on Julia
One of the most diverse and celebrated talents of her generation, the directors on Tilda Swinton's CV represent a veritable who's who of independent cinema and include David... More...
May 27, 2008:
Sydney Pollack: A Retrospective
With two Oscar wins and plenty more nominations under his belt, Sydney Pollack was a filmmaker that Hollywood admired. He was also a proven actor's director whose fruitful... More...
May 26, 2008:
Sydney Pollack dies aged 73
Academy Award-winning director, producer and actor, Sydney Pollack, dies aged 73. More...
April 11, 2008:
Script Review: Tony Gilroy's Duplicity 
Tony Gilroy's follow-up to Michael Clayton -- the Clive Owen/Julia Roberts-led Duplicity -- is filming now, and Latino Review is offering a review of the script. More...
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